Two weeks ago I wrote, “More to come…” regarding the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 when I was correspondent for several newspapers. Little did I know what would happen. Mississippi will have to wait.

It took a week for police to release Wilson’s identity. Ignoring the Department of Justice, they released a video showing Brown allegedly committing a strong-arm robbery minutes before being killed, inflaming demonstrators. The police shredded their credibility.

Eric Holder, who personally came to Ferguson, promises that the truth will be uncovered by the Department of Justice. Will that lead to justice?

Fifty years ago, three civil rights workers were murdered by police and Klan members. James Chaney, the African-American, was tortured, every bone broken. White “lawmen” were proud, self-righteous, gleefully committing acts of terror. The white power structure protected them.

It’s different today, yet regarding the treatment of many black men, there’s still no justice.

Recently, unarmed black men have been killed by white policemen in Ferguson, Staten Island and Los Angeles. Many others, driven to depression and rage, opt for “suicide by cop.” In Beaver Creek, Ohio, a man waving a BB gun was killed. This week a St. Louis man, wielding a knife, was killed. In Rockford two years ago, 18-year-old Logan Bell, having threatened suicide, was shot 16 times by three cops. He had aimed a pellet pistol at a police sergeant. These shootings are “deemed justified.” Justified?

Remember Mark Anthony Barmore — unarmed — tragically gunned down in 2009 in a Rockford church basement in front of the pastor’s wife, her daughter and several small children by two white policemen? How could you forget?

The policemen were not charged. The system convicted the pastor’s daughter, Marissa, traumatized by witnessing this tragedy, with felonies, undermining faith in Rockford’s criminal justice system.

The Department of Justice did not investigate Mr. Barmore’s death. They organized “Rockford Mediation.” After two years, it failed. A pastor friend called it a “public relations ploy.” Rockford Police Chief Chet Epperson has implemented many reforms, but the “Police Benevolent and Protective Association,” infamous for demanding “hazard pay” to patrol in black neighborhoods, is trying to get rid of him.

It amazes me that standard operating procedure for police departments is to “stop the threat” by aiming at the “center of mass” (chest) with a lethal weapon — and then the head.

Page 2 of 2 - Why a lethal weapon? Non-lethal ways to instantly subdue people who threaten violence are not standard protocol. This needs to change! I am calling for research to discover even better non-lethal ways to instantly subdue a person threatening violence.

Also, our entire society needs to replace racial conditioning with cultural competency. We all need to acknowledge that racial conditioning exists. For example, people fear African-American men they don’t know. That’s racial conditioning. When people from one cultural background speak to those of another, something is “lost in translation.” We need to change that.

“Talk, talk, talk. That’s all we do. I want action.”

I hear that a lot, yet if we learn to talk and LISTEN to each other and to translate for full understanding, we’ll be onto something wonderful. Holder said we’re a nation of cowards. No. We’re a nation of people afraid of conflict, not knowing how to let conflict be a lens through which we all gain wisdom, compassion and connection. Talking and listening IS action. By getting together across the barriers of race and class and truly encountering ourselves and each other, we’ll usher in a new era of transformation.

Harlan Johnson, LMFT, a community therapist, enjoys helping the community heal and grow, and makes his income providing individual, couple and family therapy along with communication training. Go to tinyurl.com/peaceworkshop and register for a free communication workshop — part of Rockford’s Peace Month celebration.